This weekend, I finally got the chance to install Pro Tools onto my new laptop, something I did not get to do for a while as my old laptop had stopped working. It was really exciting to get a glimpse into what real producers in the industry use for their own music production. Although Pro Tools First is limited in the number of MIDI instruments they have and the number of tracks you could have on a project, I believe it will allow me to work on the production side of my music at home or at school. The songs I will be writing are probably gonna be very minimal in their instrument and beat composition. Recording music with very professional equipment with my mentor is honestly a rare opportunity to come about, so if I want to record some music, I should make them worthwhile.
I have really been focusing on my country/folk song. Since guitar is my main instrument, I really want to incorporate it into my compositions. It was been nice to get familiarized with the guitar. The MIDI options in Pro Tools First will hopefully allow me to produce my instrumental tracks for the rest of the genres, so I could spend the limited time I have recording vocals. This week, I plan to add the finishing touches to my compositions and will send some recordings to my mentor.
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I was really excited to have that extra Friday off, so that I could get ahead on my work and have time to start on my music. I work well when I can put all my focus onto one task without the thought of other tasks looming over my head. Getting all my work done for other classes, I took some time to play with my guitar. I kind of went off of my notes that I took when researching about dance pop songs and played with some minor keys. I became acquainted with the circle of fifths again, so it could be easier finding these different chord progressions. It was definitely exciting to see my music come to life. Starting is the hardest part, but once you get into it, the music is able to flow much more smoothly from what I experienced.
I really want to make the songs that I write personal, but I don’t have many experiences with some of the most common topics people write music about today, which is love and partying. I thought that perhaps, I could write about hopes and dreams, or wanting to be something. All of these topics sound cheesy to me though. I think I’ll keep brainstorming on those topics until I find something I like. A friend of mine who writes poems told me that I should just start writing, and eventually, the lyrics may become something nice. This spring break vacation allowed me to have a much needed rejuvenation. During the spring break, I was able to have many things that were once up in the air become settled, allowing me more time to think about my final product. In the past few weeks, I have not been able to write the songs I indicated in my original calendar. I have also been looking into my notes and communications that I had made with Professor Medina about the number of songs I will be able to record. The term “multitrack recording” I learned was not referring to the number of songs, but the number of layers that are recorded for one song. This was definitely something new that I should have paid closer attention to. However, this should not divert my end plan in recording 4 to 6 songs for my EP. I will have further communication with Professor Medina once my first song is finished. With this spring break, I was able to catch up on many things in other classes, so I should be able to finally sit down and compose.
I have been looking for composing tools on the internet that are free to use. I came across a version of Pro Tools that is meant for beginner songwriters and artists. As I fit into that category, I have been dabbling in Pro Tools a little bit to become more familiar with it for future use. Hopefully, this program will allow me to compose a rough instrumental for my songs that could be later refined with the resources at Collin College. In ISM this week, I finalized my plan of action for my final product. I believe that I was able to create a solid schedule for myself that would allow me to succeed. What I had come up with is that I will writing one song a week. This sounds easier than it really is. As an amateur in the songwriting world, it is really difficult for me to find inspiration to write new songs. I, being the homebody I am, haven’t really experienced relationships past friendships. In a market saturated with songs that deal with love or partying, these are simply things that I cannot write about from the heart. Brainstorming sessions have really allowed me to assess the experiences that I could pick from and write about.
Nonetheless, songwriting is very fun. It is nice to do something on the weekends other than homework and sit in front of the computer. By writing my own music, I am stimulating my creativity and doing something productive. I am giving myself the opportunity to fall back in love with playing the guitar and singing for fun. These are slow progressions that I’ve noticed and couldn’t be more excited for. Although I am a bit off schedule, I hope to really dive into songwriting in the coming days. One goal that I wanted to accomplish with the final product was to challenge myself by tackling different genres that I may not be as comfortable with. To assemble my list of genres that I want to write songs for, I reflected a lot on my own music tendencies when listening to Spotify. A great way to assess the songs I have streamed, including the top genres I listened to would be the 2017 wrapped website. While checking the website with my spotify account linked, I was able to see the top genres I have listened to throughout the year. It was not a surprise that I prefer to listen to more upbeat songs with an EDM base, leaning towards more house instead of the high intensity synths that are associated with raw EDM. I also like to listen to catchy vocals being laced within the song. From Spotify, it shows that the genre of songs that I streamed the most in 2017 was dance pop! It was a surprise to see this because I had not known this was a genre that existed.
This furthers the notion of how the music trend of the late 2000’s is a blend of a plethora of genres. There are no longer songs that are entirely one genre in mainstream music. Hip-Hop can now have beats interlaced with trap and EDM and pop music can now have the infectious melodies and instruments of country music like Bebe Rexha’s “Meant To Be”. I decided the first genre that I want to write a song for would be dance pop as this would be the easiest for me due to my familiarity with it. Then, I decided that I am going to alternate writing songs each week with one genre that is easier for me to write and with one genre that would be more difficult for me to write. For example, this week I am starting with dance pop, but next week, I will be tackling R&B, a genre I am not as familiar with. Throughout this writing and composition process, I will keep reference music and also explore more songs within the specific genre in order to ensure that I am giving the proper justice to the genre. I believe that I am slowly getting into the routine of the different responsibilities of having a mentor. It is a first time that I was able to obtain a mentor at a time that didn’t leave me one month to work on my final product, so I am excited to see what is in store. Although I had a mentor visit scheduled last week, I was not able to attend the meeting due to my mentor falling ill. However, I hope to schedule a time to meet this week, so I could get a better idea of how the flow of my work as well as the Audio Engineering 2 class will go. Although I anticipate to be writing songs soon, I could not seem to find the right moment or mood to begin brainstorming and writing. I am not sure if it either has to do with my insecurities or my feeling of failure these past few days. However, I should learn to separate ISM and my personal feelings about the future separate. It has become increasingly difficult considering there are so many things I have to consider for the future and all the uncertainty only makes it worse.
I learned something new about myself through this ISM journey, and it is that I want to be in control of things and always know what the outcome will be in the future. Due to this, I think a career centered around producing or being an artist is not something I would pursue in the future. This does not, however, take the fun out of creating music. It only means that studying this topic has allowed me to come to this conclusion about a career in music. I am okay with this, and I am hoping to see music as my outlet of artistic expression and a way to relax when times get tough like now. This was a good week because not only did I finally have my interview after a long drought of interviews, but I was also able to obtain a mentor! The reason why there was such a drought of interviews was because I had asked someone about being my mentor, and it seemed like the decision would take a positive course after discussing over the phone and sending over information. However, it is unfortunate that there was a sudden disrupt in communication. Even though Professor Medina, my mentor, is mostly an audio engineer, I hope that I will be able to gain some experience and teachings about songwriting. Songwriting is an essential skill when becoming a producer. It is something I am still insecure about, but I will slowly build the confidence by practicing.
I am excited to see how this journey will go. The current plan is that for now, I will be writing a couple songs so I have some material to work with. Once I have somewhat of a framework, I will meet with mentor to refine it more. I will not be able to use the Collin College studio per se, however, I will be able to come in as an “artist” for the express audio engineering 2 class that will start in a few weeks. I hope I could take part in some of the producing they will do for me. These coming weeks will be very exciting! The search for a mentor has been rather stagnant due to not receiving correspondence from a professional that I had proposed the mentorship to. The busyness was something that I did not anticipate amongst the professionals when I had chosen to go into this field of study. Nonetheless, even though I was also mentorless last year, what makes this period different is that many of the resources are at the palms of my hand.
Last year, I needed a neurosurgeon mentor to even begin on my final product, but as my final product this year is to write and produce tracks, it would be much easier to get a head start in the project even without a mentor. However, finding a mentor as soon as possible is still a priority. It just won’t be holding me back on progressing in my musical journey unlike last year. I have also been thinking much about the final product itself. Given that there are approximately 4 months to complete this, I believe it would be best to produce a full album but rather an extended play, also known as an EP. An EP usually has 4-6 songs and if I budget my time to producing one track a month, this would be an attainable goal. So there is much thinking to do regarding how to go about this final product creation. An enormous milestone has been met for ISM within this week. That milestone was the Research Showcase that was held at the The Star Ford Center. This being the second time I am attending and presenting at this event, many aspects were much more different. For example, I was much more relaxed. To my surprise, many people were interested in what I was doing in ISM. Knowing that a topic in music is completely different from what I studied last year (neurosurgery), I made sure to highlight this to grab my audience’s interest. I was delighted to see so many familiar faces and strangers be very supportive of my ambitions.
Another milestone that has been met would be the Original Work. I had to modify the original plan that had been made for the original work. Considering how my music intuition is still very lacking, I decided to toil with a song that has already been released in order to have a base for the original rendition and stylistic choices I can project on it. I decided to cover the song Dangerous Woman by Ariana Grande. A reason why I chose this song was because not because I am intrigued by the unique minor tone, but there are many aspects of the songs that I know that will pose challenges for me to overcome. Some of those challenges will be the vocal techniques Ariana Grande uses to effortlessly reach higher notes. Also, it has been time since I had fingerstyle on a guitar piece. Learning the fingerstyle utilized in Dangerous Woman was definitely a challenge. All in all, after this original work, I will better equipped with the skills of a musician. I believe that with this base in music intuition and theory, I will be able to start writing my own songs. Also gaining experience with recording equipment has taught me a lot about the necessary technology needed to capture a better quality sound. In the future, it would be best to invest in a microphone. In the end, I am proud of the producing I was able to do with the minimal tools that I had. I did not anticipate the difficulty that would come with creating my own composition. During the process of writing my original work piece, it blatantly showcased to me the lack of musical competence I have when it comes to aural skills and creativity. Many scraps were made of different pieces due to now reaching my satisfaction, but the current piece that I have written is what I believe to be a quality piece. The title is in the workings, but I shaped the piece to be more soulful, mixed with vocal tones that utilize the chest voice as well as corporations of the more light lyrical soprano sound that I think my voice fits the most amongst all styles of singing.
Writing the music down on paper has not been as difficult of a task for now because the main instrument that is used for the demo is a guitar, which can be notated through tabs and simple chord sheets. The difficulty comes around in the decision of whether I want to notate the music through the computer. The program, audacity has been giving me some difficulty due to still not being well versed with the program, but there is always room for improvement when it comes to digitally writing and composing music when it comes to the final product. Although I have not mastered composition and still lack a strong aural intuition, I think this original work has set me on a good path to write more music and soon produce those pieces into something a person can listen to. I am looking forward to sharing this song with others because it is inherently the first song I wrote ever in my musical journey. Slowly, I hope to see the walls that I built for myself come down. |
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